I shared a few highlights from the National Staff Gathering of The Navigators, starting with The Man in Seat 12B on November 16. An over-arching theme was:

Navigators believe anyone can read the Bible, do what it says, and help others.

Therefore, it’s a good time to share this story about my long-time friend Rick Bereit, Air Force Academy graduate, retired Air Force colonel, and Navigator-trained disciple-maker. Rick wasn’t at the National Staff Gathering…because he’s not staff! An article by Timothy Cho, published October 16, 2023, opens this way:

While many who are impacted by The Navigators eventually come on staff…, many others carry on our mission right where the Lord has placed them in their everyday callings. This is a beautiful thing about our Navigator community and has been part of who we are from the very beginning.

Rick Bereit is one of those longtime everyday disciplemakers.

I recommend the article in its entirety, but here are some snippets:

Years ago, after serving in the military for over 20 years and having impactful relationships with Navigators…, Rick started to wonder if it was time to pursue full-time ministry. While at a couples’ retreat, he spoke with a fellow Navigator about this and received a surprising answer: “No! We want you to stay right where you’re at. In the military, you have more access to people than any Navigator staff could have!”

…Learning how to make disciples wherever we are is foundational for all followers of Christ and is part of our DNA as Navigators. As such, this is something Rick has instilled in those he has discipled for many decades. “We want to keep them in their occupations, in their locations, in their neighborhoods—where they’re insiders.”

Here is how it worked out for Rick:

At the Air Force Academy, he knocked on the doors of freshmen and started discipling 14 of them through a weekly Bible study. Over many decades, Rick has followed the Lord’s call, discipling people from all walks of life. They have gone on to advance the Kingdom in many ways—as a pastor in New England who helps other pastors incorporate disciple-making in their ministries; as an aviation mechanic who takes care of airplanes for missionaries in South America; one woman moved to South Africa to disciple women in college there; another couple is now making disciples in Poland, and so on.

When asked why making disciples is so important today, Rick shares: “I’ve done this for 60-some years, and I can point to people that are walking with God and the impact that those people are having in other people’s lives. I can’t think of anything more exciting than that in the Christian life—to spend a little time with someone and then just see them blossom and flourish and become fruitful themselves.”

I’ve quoted Rick in this space: he’s the “friend” in this blog about A Picture of the Church. The “pastor in New England,” referred to above is my friend Ray Bandi, who appears in these blogs from time to time. You might enjoy this picture of Rick, a widower, and his new bride. We are not sitting down, and he is not standing on a chair!

Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” (Numbers 13.32 – 33, MSG)

Oops. Wrong verse…

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18 – 20, ESV)